This invention relates to the production and delivery of natural gas, particularly from low producing gas wells.
Gas wells may be high, mid or low producers. For low producing wells, economic delivery of gas to consumers poses a substantial challenge. Low producing wells typically do not have high pressure, thus to enable gas to reach a gas pipeline for processing and subsequent delivery to customers, the gas must be compressed by a gas compressor. Conventionally, skid mounted or trailer mounted gas compressors have been used for this purpose. However, such gas compressors have their own drive engine, which adds to the complexity and expense of the gas compression system as a whole. This invention is directed towards providing a simple, cost effective solution to the problem of economic delivery of gas from low producers.
This invention, in its various aspects, provides an in-line gas compression system, comprising a vehicle, preferably a truck, having a drive train and an engine, with a gas compressor mounted on the vehicle and driven by the drive train of the vehicle. The gas compressor is connected to receive a supply of clean natural gas and has a compressed gas outlet line. A rotary screw gas compressor is preferably used for the gas compressor, and an oil and gas separator is provided on the compressed gas outlet line, with the oil and gas separator being connected to return oil to the rotary screw gas compressor. The gas compressor may be supplied with gas through a gas-liquid separator. Regulated natural gas may be taken from the gas-liquid separator to power the engine of the vehicle through a natural gas intake manifold.
The in-line gas compression system is typically connected into a gas pipeline system through the compressed gas outlet line, and is connected to a source of gas, for example a gas well at a well site.
These and other aspects of the invention are described in the detailed description of the invention and claimed in the claims that follow.